Nursing preceptorship in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria: Perceptions of nursing students and clinical preceptors.

Nursing preceptors play a vital role in providing skills-oriented opportunities for students in the clinical environment. This study assessed the perceptions of nursing students regarding the clinical learning experience provided by preceptors, and the perceptions of nursing preceptors regarding their roles in ensuring beneficial clinical accompaniment in the three nursing institutions in Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria. A concurrent mixed-methods design consisting of a survey and semi-structured interviews were used. A multistage (consecutive, purposive, and convenience) sampling technique was used to obtain quantitative data from 120 nursing students and qualitative data from 20 preceptors. Data were analyzed using descriptive and thematic content analysis. Findings showed that overall students' perceptions of the clinical learning experience were good (92%), 91.7% of the students wanted direct supervision and inadequate support was reported due to the low preceptor-to-student ratio. Preceptors acknowledged that clinical accompaniment is one of their roles, challenges mentioned include few number of preceptors, lack of policy requirements to guide their duties, and limited equipment. We conclude that there is a need to provide adequate preceptors in clinical settings, as they are vital to the training of nurses. A unified policy and standardized procedure manual will improve the quality of the delivery of preceptorships in training institutions.

Attitude and compliance of nurses to standard precautions to infection control in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria.

The attitude and compliance to standard precautions (SP) by nurses have been recognized as efficient and effective means to prevent and control infections among patients and healthcare workers. This study investigated nurses' attitude and compliance to standard precautions in tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria. A cross-sectional, descriptive research designs using purposive sampling techniques were used. Adapted and standardized instruments were used to elicit information from 137 nurses. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Participants' age was between 21 and 62 years, with a mean age of 33.54± 9.41 years; 85.4% were females; while the majority had five to ten years working experience. Participants had poor attitude toward SP, but with good compliance (96.6%). All participants (100%) had good compliance with the use of personnel protective equipment, while most had good compliance with hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, safety injection practice, clean environment, and sterilization of instruments. The ward/unit allocation of the nurses had a significant positive effect (R= 0.225, p= 0.008) on compliance with respiratory hygiene. Hence, sensitization programs should be intensified to ensure that health workers understand and comply with infection control through the use of SP.